The Hunger Games Thread

[cloudyshambles]

I am Legend was alright and Water for Elephants was visually stunning, but I don't know if that can be credited to Lawrence or the cinematographer?

I think Lawrence's list of music videos is impressive though:

Music video for Justin Timberlake "Rock Your Body" ((2003))

(2002 Directed music video for Avril Lavigne, "Sk8er Boi".

(2002 Directed music video for Britney Spears, "I'm a slave 4 u".

(2002 Directed music video for Pink, "Just Like A pill".

Directed music video "Hands clean" by Alanis Morissette

Directed music video "Whenever wherever" by Shakira

Directed music video "Alive" by P.O.D.

Directed music video "Someone to call my lover" by Janet Jackson

Directed music video "Play" by Jennifer Lopez

Directed music video "Jaded" by Aerosmith

Directed music video "Here is gone" by Goo Goo Dolls

Directed music video "Black Suits Comin' (Nod Ya Head)" by Will Smith

Directed music video "Warning" by Incubus

Music video for Justin Timberlake "Cry Me a River" (2003)

(2000 Directed music video for Third Eye Blind, "Ten Days Late"

Directed music video "Independent women - part I" by Destiny's Child

Directed music video "I'm like a bird" by Nelly Furtado

Directed music video "Warning" by Green Day

Directed music video "The call" by Backstreet Boys

Directed music video "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" by Britney Spears

(2004 Directed music video for The Black Eyed Peas, "Let's Get It Started".

(2004 Directed music video for Gwen Stefani, "What You Waiting For?"

(1998 Directed music video for Third Eye Blind, "Losing A Whole Year"

(2005 Directed music video for Audioslave, "Be Yourself".

Directed Ginuwine's video "What's so different" 1999

Directed 'Goodbye to You' for Michelle Branch

(1997) Directed the music video for "10 in 2010" by Bad Religion

(1999 Directed as Alan Smithee music video for Jennifer Lopez, "Waiting for Tonight"

(2009 Directed music video for Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"

imdb.com

 

[YoninahAliza]

To be honest I haven't seen either of Francis Lawrence's movies so I can't judge on that score but I've seen a good portion of the music video's he's directed... quite impressive! Some of my favorite songs and some really good video's too. Also, maybe it's a good thing they went with a lesser known director, this gives him a chance to come into his own.

 

[Niusity]

As I see from his movies and clips his works aren't that bad, Constantine, I Am Legend and Water for Elephants are some good (and highly rated) movies. I'm sad they haven't chosen Gary as a director for next movies(considering that the movie was really well appreciated).

 

[randhrshipper1]

I am cautiously optimistic about Lawrence as director, as I just saw Water for Elephants not long ago and thought it was fairly well done. I guess we will all have to wait and see how he does.

 

[MissyJG]

As I see from his movies and clips his works aren't that bad, Constantine, I Am Legend and Water for Elephants are some good (and highly rated) movies. I'm sad they haven't chosen Gary as a director for next movies(considering that the movie was really well appreciated).

Well, it was Gary who didn't want to do it. Unless he wasn't offered enough money..

 

[Niusity]

^if it was him who left the project it's for sure because of the money. After the success of the 1st movie, it's absolutelly natural for a director to ask for more money. I don't see other reasons(unless he's got smth bigger.)

 

[YoninahAliza]

So it seems that people are getting upset with some of the casting suggestions for Finnick. And I'm really curious to know what everyone else thinks. Personally, when I read the books I pictured someone of Middle Eastern decent. However that said, I could not for the life of me picture the right actor to play Finnick. Honestly, no one was able to match my image of what Finnick was suppose to be like. Yet, after seeing Jesse Williams name being thrown around I could totally get on board with him playing Finnick. Whoever they cast has to be able not only look mighty fine but also be able to play the serious part of his story too. Because there is more to his story then just being a pretty face.

jezebel.com

Another Racist Sh*tstorm Brews Over Casting Hunger Games’ Finnick

Central casting has taken wallops from both sides over their various ethnic interpretations of characters from Suzanne Collins' YA dystopian trilogy as they're being converted to the big screen (note: very, very successfully). To be fair, this is complicated particularly because the futuristic setting suggests that the general population is mixed-race; many characters are described as having "dusky" or "olive" skin, and we've even published a comprehensive character-by-character racial breakdown to clear up the confusion.

The first big ****storm was over the handpicking of stacked blonde Jennifer Lawrence to transform into dark-complexioned protagonist Katniss Everdeen. The second was the casting of a black child actress named Amandla Stenberg as the ill-fated 11-year-old tribute Rue. Who was pissed about that one? Um, racists!

The character of Finnick Odair doesn't appear until the second two books/movies, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, and is described as an extremely handsome man with "tan skin" (also referred to as "golden"), "bronze-colored hair" and "incredible" sea-green eyes. A Hunger Games fan started campaigning for Cabin In The Woods and Grey's Anatomy actor Jesse Williams to get the part, launching a Jesse for Finnick platform on Tumblr and Twitter, but she hardly expected to receive the kind of response she got from the community—which, although only a few people are short-sighted enough to come right out and say it on message boards like this one, seems to be an overwhelming knee-jerk response of "FINNICK IS WHITE."

I think that Jesse Wiliams just won't work. Finnick Odair in my eyes is Tall, young, disheveled medium long luscious Golden blonde hair, ocean blue colored eyes, he has a glowing tan, washboard abs, and wears almost no clothes, at the same times carries a trident. That is the guy i wan't to see as Finnick. For example PERFECT GUY is Ian Somerhalder. Color him blonde and throw in some contacts and wala you have Finnick Odair!

I'm sorry but unless I read the wrong book, isn't Finnick Caucasian? By tanned skin Collins meant his skin was darkened from the sun (swimming/fishing) not that he is of a darker skin ethnicity... Don't get me wrong, this guy is great just completely wrong for this role.

When alternative suggestions are provided, they include Caucasian actors Somerhalder, Chace Crawford and Taylor Kitsch (but even then, many people simply say "No" or "No way" or "He's wrong" — because not even white boys are good enough?). The moderator of the Tumblr site tells us that many fans want to see a Robert Pattinson-type in the role, and they don't think a black actor can accurately convey Finnick's supposed hotness. Because black guys can't be hot? (Clearly these people have never seen Idris Elba. Or Jesse Williams, for that matter.) She also says that one commenter "even tried to say that being tan (one of the descriptions of Finnick) is only for white people because black people are black already."

Meanwhile, what does Williams himself have to say about all this? He told E! Online:

I didn't know what the heck a Finnick was when I was getting a lot of the questions about it. People are creative about that kind of stuff, and now I'll try to figure out if that's something that's interesting to me.

Haha, come on, dude. Come ON. You're sh**ting yourself trying to get this part. Just admit it. Oh, you're gonna keep playing cool? Fine. When you look as good as you do, you can play it however you want.

http://jezebel.com/5907900/casting-of-the-hunger-games-finnick-is-stirring-up-another-race-****storm

 

[kokobombon]

Williams fits the description just right, he has a nice body too and he can act (he´s not that great but he´s not bad either). That said, I don´t know many black actors with light colored eyes.
A nice casting choice would be a latin actor, there are plenty with bronze skin and blue/green eyes. When I was reading the books I´ve pictured latin people whenever they were described as having olive/bronze skin. Unless the description said white, I never thought of them being caucasian...
Anyway, at the end of the day it doesn´t matter if they cast someone whose description is a 100% accurate, as long as they can act and have some chemistry with the rest I´m ok with it.

 

[loladonna]

I pictured Finnick looking pretty much like Jesse Williams, so I'd be fine with him getting the part.

 

[Aqua Tofana]

Wasn't Finnick supposed to be blond? I imagined him more of a Greek sculpture.

 

[kokobombon]

^the description said bronze hair which to me is brownish, but some browns are labeled blonde so who knows lol
and there are blondes outside the caucasian race so again, I think a latin actor would fit nicely

 

[loladonna]

^I believe Bronze is a brownish color. If Finnick were blonde, I'm sure the author would have described him as such like she did Prim and Katniss's mom.

 

[Aqua Tofana]

I don't know why (perhaps due to him being from beach/district 4) but I always imagine dhim as a surfer-boy type

 

[YoninahAliza]

It is really interesting that we all have our own perceptions of what Finnick would look like. I think how we perceive story characters has to do a lot with our own experiences which is probably why so many people pictured people like Thresh, Rue, Finnick, etc as white because that's what they automatically assumed they were. Some people automatically assume that a character is white if no description is given (or even when a description is given... which is most certainly racist). However, these people are definitely racist if they continue to get upset/angry about casting issues because they thought, "only a white person could play this character." And especially in a world like Panem, which is set in the future, it makes sense that their would be a lot more diversity. Thus, the film ought to reflect that. And so far, I think THG's has actually done a pretty good job. And I hope they continue to cast a diverse group of different people for the characters.

Also, as a sidenote, I pictured Finnick with a swimmers body (which makes sense since he's from District 4). Obviously very athletic looking but especially having amazing abs, like Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte.

 

[pixiedust1603]

Sam Clafin has alledgedly been offered the role of Finnick. He is completely wrong for Finnick , in my opinion, and all the other guys who were in the frame for Finnick such as Taylor Kitsch, Armie Hammer and Garret Hedlund were a million times better. Oh yeah Melissa Leo, Tony Shalhoub, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (brilliant casting) are also set to be in Catching Fire.

With two blockbusters under his belt, Brit thesp Sam Claflin looks to be lining up one more, as sources tell Variety that the "Snow White and the Huntsman" star is the choice to play Finnick Odair in Lionsgate's sequel "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire."
Additionally, sources say that Oscar winner Melissa Leo and three-time Emmy winner Tony Shalhoub are the frontrunners to play Mags and Beetee, respectively. Regardless of the status of their potential involvement, Claflin, Leo and Shalhoub are all on the studio's shortlist for roles in the highly-anticipated sequel.

Lionsgate and all of the actors' respective reps had no comment on the casting.

Finnick was the most coveted available role in the "Hunger Games" sequel, and sources tell Variety that Claflin is nearing an offer. The character, who was 14 when he was selected as a tribute, is one of the youngest to have won the Hunger Games. Katniss does not trust him at first and is hesitant to make Finnick her ally, though he proves to be valuable after he saves Peeta from drowning in the Quarter Quell.

Mags was Finnick's mentor when he first competed in the Hunger Games. She volunteers to take the place of his lover, Annie Cresta, in order to spare her life. Katniss makes it a point to ally with her because of her selflessness.

Beetee is an inventor who Johanna Mason nicknames "Volts" due to his knack for using electricity as a weapon. He's ability to create a forcefield is crucial to the Rebels' plan to rescue the Hunger Games tributes in the Quarter Quell.

Claflin burst onto Hollywood's radar when he scored a key supporting role alongside Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides." He went on to vie for Kristen Stewart's affections in "Snow White and the Huntsman." He's repped by CAA and Independent Talent Group.

Indie veteran Leo has never appeared in a blockbuster movie, though she is currently filming a key supporting role alongside Tom Cruise in Joseph Kosinski's "Oblivion," based on the graphic novel from Radical Publishing. She's repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.

Shalhoub is no stranger to studio blockbusters, having appeared in two "Men in Black" films and three "Spy Kids" pics. He's repped by ICM Partners.

Variety

 

[kokobombon]

^I´ve seen Clafin in Pirates, he has zero charisma and screen presence imo. But I wasn´t happy with the casting of the male leads either and they´re not bad after all so who knows...

 

[randhrshipper1]

I've only seen Claflin in Pillars of the Earth so far and I would have to see more to have any sort of judgement. Let's all just wait and see until the part is cast for sure.

 

[YoninahAliza]

I have to admit that I haven't seen Sam in anything yet so I can't judge on his acting abilities but look-wise from the pictures I've seen he can definitely be smoldering. Though to be honest, I never would have pictured Finnick with dimples when he smiles. But it is rather cute. Obviously this isn't official yet, but I was hoping they would cast someone who wasn't white in the role of Finnick, but that's just how I pictured the character. I could live with Sam being Finnick though, just as long as he manages to capture the essence of character well. Also, wouldn't Melissa Leo be too young to play Mags? I thought Mags was suppose to be like 80+ years old. But maybe they will put a ton of makeup on her?

 

[Alvedansen]

i don't mind Sam (although after i've seen his name pop up for the role all the time - as a fan fave - i was really rooting for Jesse Williams)

i just hope Jena Malone won't be cast as Johanna Mason, not at all how i pictured her

 

[pixiedust1603]

I think Sam has the potential to be good acting wise but it's more that he doesn't fit the physical description. Sam is cute but not drop dead gorgeous in the way Finnick is described as and, I think more than any character, the actor really should match the description.
Posted via Mobile Device